Registration is now closed. You can watch the event below.
If you have any questions, please contact Beth Hagen, Events Coordinator, Royal Academy of Engineering at events@raeng.org.uk.
In this event, we heard from experts at the forefront of telecommunications research and industry, who explore what the latest challenges and opportunities are for the technology. There was also the opportunity for the audience to submit questions to the panel during the event.
We were delighted to welcome Dr Mallikarjun Tatipamula FREng FRSE, Ericsson, Professor Dimitra Simeonidou FREng, University of Bristol, and Dr David Parker FREng, Microsoft, as guest speakers for the fourth instalment of this Critical Conversations mini series.
Critical Conversations series
Bringing together the thoughts of leading experts from across the Academy’s networks, our Critical Conversations explore issues of relevance to global professional engineering community and wider society. Fellows, awardees, and engineering partners gather to tackle topical issues of relevance to the global professional engineering community and wider society.
This special five part series of Critical Conversations will each explore a critical technology, highlighted in the government's UK Science and Technology (S&T) Framework as quantum technologies, semiconductors, engineering biology, telecommunications and artificial intelligence.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE
Hayaatun is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. She co-chairs with the Science Minister the government’s Business Innovation Forum and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on improving Black representation in motorsport. She is a trustee of various charities, member of the government’s Levelling Up Advisory Council and Digital Skills Council and NXD at construction company Laing O’Rourke. She has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50’ women in tech in Europe and one of the most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She has a Masters in Biochemistry (MBiochem) from Oxford and a PhD from Cancer Research UK/UCL. She is a Fellow of the IET, Honorary Professor at UCL and Honorary Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford. She has received honorary doctorates from UCL, Imperial College London, Newcastle, Brunel, Huddersfield and Southampton, as well as a Science Suffrage Award and the Engineering Professor’s Council President’s Medal. She was a finalist for the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award and was made a CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019. Prior to her current roles, she was Deputy CEO at the Academy and served as Committee Specialist and later Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.
Dr Mallik Tatipamula FREng FRSE
Dr Mallik Tatipamula FREng FRSE’s contributions to telecommunications have resulted in major advances and new directions. He led the delivery of innovative products for telecommunication networks, working with global telecommunication operators and in parallel with academia. He helped enable the telecommunication industry’s major architectural transitions by translating innovations into standards and technology developments. While at Cisco, Juniper, F5, and Ericsson, Malik implemented programmes that fostered innovations with multi-billion-dollar impact and launched several products/solutions, many of which help bridge the digital divide. He has co-authored two books, over 100 publications/patents, and delivered over 500 keynote/panel presentations including over 100 guest lectures at several universities. He has received prestigious awards including IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award in 2020; an IET Achievement Award in Telecommunications; and CTO/Technologist of the Year from Total Telecom’s World Communication Awards. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou FREng
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou FREng is a Full Professor at the University of Bristol, the Co-Director of the Bristol Digital Futures Institute and the Director of Smart Internet Lab. Her research is focusing on the fields of high-performance networks, programmable networks, Future Internet, wireless-optical convergence, 5G/6G and smart city infrastructures. In the past few years, she is increasingly working with Social Sciences and Humanities on topics of climate change and digital transformation for society and businesses. Dimitra has been the Technical Architect and the CTO of the smart city project Bristol Is Open. She is currently leading the Bristol City/Region 5G and Open RAN pilots. Dimitra is a member of the DSIT Supply Chain Diversification Advisory Council, a founding member of UKTIN and has led major research projects funded by UKRI and the EC. She is currently coordinating the DSIT REASON project developing blueprint architectures and technologies for 6G. She has been co-founder of three spin-out companies developing solutions for connected smart infrastructures. Dimitra is also a Fellow of the IEEE (FIEEE), Fellow of WWRF, a Royal Society Wolfson Scholar and member of UKCRC.
Dr David Parker FREng
David Parker is an experienced executive and entrepreneur in the technology sector. David has a PhD from Imperial College, is a Chartered Engineer and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Following a successful career in product design and technology management in the photonics arena, David moved into a business leadership role and led international businesses for Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies and Marconi, managing some of the world largest optical components operations. He was formally CEO of SPI Lasers, where he grew the business to one of the largest suppliers of fibre based industrial laser systems in the world. More recently David has returned to his passion of creating and managing early-stage technology companies, helping them get started and grow. He has served as Chairman of a number of companies in the optical communication, semiconductor and IoT space, and also as Chairman of Perpetuum (exited to Hitachi), Inflowmatix (exited to Suez) and Concirrus, as well as acting as a strategic advisor to Senseye (exited to Siemens): all in the Industrial IoT arena. He has also served as a Venture Partner at Touchstone Innovations (IP Group), one of the largest investors in early-stage tech in Europe, and more recently Amadeus Capital. David co-founded and led Lumenisity, the world leader in Hollow Core Fibre, as Chairman and CEO from inception to the acquisition by Microsoft. David is now part of the leadership team for Azure Fiber.